Cupertino, CA -- August 10, 1992 -- 3M Corp., St. Paul, Minnesota, the
world's largest supplier of flexible magnetic media, has announced the
commercial availability of the 21-megabyte (MB) 3M Floptical diskette. 3M
is a founding member of the FTA.

The 21MB (nominal capacity) Floptical disk drive is capable of reading and
writing downward to conventional 1.44MB and 720KB diskettes and stores
respectively over 14 and 28 times more data than these lower capacity
diskettes. Floptical drives have been shipping in quantity since late 1991
from multiple sources supporting a wide variety of system platforms,
including IBM PC-compatible, PS/2, Macintosh and Amiga systems.

The Floptical diskette is designed for use in 3.5-inch Floptical disk
drives manufactured by Insite Peripherals, the developer of Floptical
technology. Insite's manufacturing partner is FTA founding member MKE
(Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd.). Insite has also
licensed the technology to Iomega Corp. Iomega's manufacturing partner is
Chinon.

The FTA called the availability of 3M Floptical diskettes another major
milestone towards acceptance of Floptical technology as the industry
standard for very high capacity storage. In agreement, a recent Dataquest
Perspective on computer storage and flexible disk drives noted ". . . the
emergence of the Floptical design as the de facto standard in (very high
capacity floppy disk drives)."

The Floptical diskette now being commercially manufactured by 3M will be
available in quantity in August 1992 through 3M's traditional distribution
channels and will carry a suggested list price of $31.45 per diskette. On
a cost per megabyte basis this makes Floptical diskettes the most cost
effective 3.5-inch media available today.

The new 3.5-inch barium ferrite 3M Floptical diskettes are designed to be
more reliable than any current floppy diskette technology. This is due in
part to a special polymer binder, developed by 3M, which prevents
degradation of the media caused by heat and humidity, minimizing debris
generation while helping to prevent the proliferation of errors. Factory
formatting also enhances data integrity, along with the drive's built-in
error correction capabilities.

"To be commercially successful and accepted by end users, a very high
capacity storage product must be reliable, available, affordable and
compatible with the millions of 3M floppy diskettes already in use.
Floptical technology is now all of these," said Jim Milligan, program
manager for 3M's Advanced Diskette Technology operation.

A spokesman for the Floptical Technology Association said, "Mass production
of the Floptical diskette by the world's largest producer of flexible
magnetic storage demonstrates that the technology is supported by major
players in the computer industry."

Floptical Technology Association
21710 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 220
Cupertino, CA 95014
408-446-0407

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